Fast and furious day four at Palma World Cup 

Windy and wavy conditions provide tough test at Princess Sofia Trophy

Strong winds and big swells provided some game-changing conditions at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Mallorca on Thursday (3 April), with capsizes and equipment breakages across the fleets in Palma Bay.  

Giles Scott survived the day unscathed amid the 20-25 knot squally conditions, posting two more race wins to extend his lead in the Finn fleet, while Helena Lucas continued her confident march towards 2.4mR gold, with a race win and a second place seeing her amass a five point buffer over teammate Megan Pascoe with one more day of racing to go for the Paralympic class.

The 49erFX class was the first to complete their schedule before the breeze and waves began to build, with Charlotte Dobson and Sophie Ainsworth showing their boat-handling skills in the lively women’s skiff racing to post 13,5,4 for their efforts and maintain overall third place.



In spite of admitting to a few mistakes on the racecourse, the British Sailing Team’s windsurfing World Champion Nick Dempsey also appeared to enjoy his day in the RS:X fleet, posting a 4,5,2 to boost him into fifth place.

“My speed was good today.  I made a lot of mistakes and still had the 5,4,2 – you always know you’re going fast when you’re not sailing that well but still getting some really good results.  “It’s nice to have the wind here finally in Palma – it’s been a tough week so far so that eases us up a little bit and it’s a damn site more enjoyable!” After a consistent but conservative start, the Olympic silver and bronze medallist is planning a change of approach for the final two days of the event.  

“I’ve been relatively consistent all week but have really been lacking pushing the front of the fleet and attacking the front of the fleet.  Tomorrow I’d like to start sailing a bit more to win, actually start pushing on a little bit, maybe take a few little risks here and there and attack it a little bit more than I have been. 

“I’ve been a little bit passive so far so I’ll go out there and give it everything tomorrow and see where we’re at.” In the RS:X women’s windsurfing fleet, Bryony Shaw managed to survive the tough conditions to end her day still with the red jersey for overall third place.

“It was a really squally day – the wind kept flicking around all over the place,” the world number one explained.  “We had three planing races and the last one was really windy, but I managed to survive.  I think I got a couple of counters today and one that was a bit of a higher score unfortunately, but it was a relatively solid day.

“The regatta so far has been a real mixed bag,” Shaw continued.  “It’s been light winds to start with and then had a day off yesterday where the wind just didn’t come through at all for us, so it’s been nice to have had some wind today and it’s been nice to have a mixed week with different kinds of conditions. 

“I’ve been trying to keep my consistency, will try and get some more top threes and see how we go.” Nick Thompson’s day improved as it went on in the Laser class – starting with a black flag disqualification, he went on to post a third and a race win to boost his overall standing to sixth, while the 49er and Nacra 17 fleets were rife with capsizes today.

Birthday boy Dylan Fletcher and Alain Sign were the only British pairing to successfully complete both 49er races, posting 4,10 to see them into sixth overall.  Dave Evans and Ed Powys are the top British crew in fourth, with a ninth and DNF on their scorecard today, while Stevie Morrison and Chris Grube’s withdrawal was confirmed following a back injury to Grube on Wednesday.

France’s Nacra 17 World Champion Billy Besson described today’s multihull racing as ‘like riding a rodeo bull’, and several British crews were indeed thrown in the course of the one race held today.  Pippa Wilson and John Gimson held on to finish fifth in the race, with Lucy Macgregor and Andy Walsh the top British pairing after day four, in seventh overall.  

In the Laser Radial event, Chloe Martin is in fourth place after seven races , while neither 470 men’s nor women’s classes saw any racing today, so Wednesday’s scores of overall second for Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark, and eighth for Luke Patience and Elliot Willis, will stand heading in to the penultimate day tomorrow.

Racing concludes for the 2.4mR Paralympic class on Friday (4 April), while sailors in the ten Olympic classes will continue battle it out for the ten berths in the medal races on Saturday (5 April).  

Follow all the British Sailing Team news, results and reaction from the event at www.britishsailingteam.com  on Twitter @BritishSailing or via our Facebook page.